Roseburg: a rural
report
by Billy Russo
I know that some people are going to read
this and groan. Others will probably get
angry. Now, before you start complaining,
please consider: one man went to prison, a
couple of others have lost credibility in the
community, a dozen others — many closeted
— were confronted with their homosexuality
by local police, at least two dozen others were
named in the police reports— which are now
public documents, and another 20 or so were
involved in a series of meetings which led to
another man being 86’ed from the activities
of the Gay And Lesbian Alliance (GALA) of
Douglas County.
In November of 1980,30 sisters and
brothers came together to form GALA. The
group’s purpose was to organize and operate
a 24 hour helpline which has been very suc­
cessful. Last month the group celebrated the
beginning of our fourth year of uninterrupted
service. Off-shoots of that effort were numer­
ous: gay m en’s consciousness raising
groups, a weekly rap group, a chapter of Gay
AA, the establishment of a monthly newslet­
ter, and the funding of MCC, Roseburg.
Organizational differences occurred
during 1982 and GALA was racked by the
traditional power struggles which plague
many organizations. These little struggles re­
sulted in com m unication breakdowns
among the various elements of the com ­
munity. And although things got unpleasant
for awhile, we were working together again by
the end of the year.
Meanwhile, Douglas County’s oldest
hom ophile group, the Roseburg Court, was
steadily plodding on. While GAL^ was focus­
ing on social service to the gay and lesbian
community, the Court worked quietly with the
granges and veteran’s organizations, mostly
organizing fundraisers. The Court, which is
ruled by a small, titled-for-life group, was
totally ignored by the GAL^ com m unity until
the spring o f1982.
At that tim e a man, Roland Egbert,
removed a number of photo albums from the
home of the ruling monarch, Dan Dunnam,
better known as Francis I of Roseburg. The
photo albums commemorated the functions
of the Court, one of which was the junior
c o u rt Egbert was living with Dunnam at the
tim e and participating in GALA functions.
Egbert involved GALA in this action
through his personal friendship with a
member o f the group’s Executive Com m it­
tee. They looked through the pictures and
shared them with other GALA members and
a week later Egbert took selected photo­
graphs to the Douglas County Sheriff s Office
with the names of a handful of men who were
involved with Dunnam.
Initially, Egbert received the support of a
few GALA members, all officers or past offic­
ers. This little group portrayed Dunnam as a
monster in their attempt to win the larger
com m unity's support for a burglary/police
interfacing. They stated to many people that
the photos turned over to the police depict
Dunnam having sex with prepuberal boys.
In July 1982, Dunnam was indicted on four
counts of sodomy involving teenagers be­
tween the ages of 15 and 18. When the police
reports were introduced as evidence in the
cases, Dunnam had copies made and
passed them around the community.
A number of issues were raised by the
official police documents. Most of us were
appalled by the scope of the police investiga­
tion. Dozens of local men were publicly
identified — mostly against their will — as
homosexuals. The four youths identified as
"victim s” all admitted to ongoing consensual
relationships with Dunnam; none of them
expressed gratitude to the authorities for the
invasion of their privacy. And there was no
mention of prepuberal boys as victims.
Although the GAL^ com m unity is still di­
vided on the issue of consenting sex between
an adult and a sexually mature minor, the
com m unity slowly reached a consensus on
Egbert's actions and eventually he was
banished from GALA activities for one year.
Dunnam pled guilty to one sodomy charge
and served five months of a five year sen­
tence. His health suffered immeasurably, he
lost his business and he had to process his
feelings of loss and the feeling of violation
alone, in prison.
Another young man who was named in the
police reports moved to California and
eventually committed suicide. Haifa dozen or
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so of the other homosexuals exposed to the
police are still angry and full of contempt.
Most of them though, just put a lot of distance
between themselves and this community.
Some of us observers have definite
opinions about this issue and have taken
sides. Most of the community, however, is in
the middle and would like to put the whole
thing behind us, NOW.
To be co ntinued. . .